VALIN'S DEATH
The morning of June 27, 1993
Mullins-Johnson describes the morning four-year-old Valin Johnson was found dead in her Sault Ste. Marie home.
"Oh the morning. Well - I was sleeping on the couch. I got in that morning about 3 and I just flopped on the couch and slept there. And ah next thing I hear was Kim barreling down the stairs. (emotionally distraught)
"She was crying, screaming.
"She ah - she woke me up out of a sleep with all that noise. And I - and I asked her what was wrong. (crying)
"And she told me that - that Val was dead. I couldn’t believe my ears. And I yelled back to her, what? And she screamed back to me, Val is dead.
"And she immediately called 911. By then I was making my way up the stairs. That’s where I met Paul. He was on his way down."
At what time then?
"Oh this was maybe 10 after 7, something like that. (crying)
"Paul came back around and led me up the stairs. And ah - as we walked in that’s when I saw Val and she was on her side with her head at the foot of the bed and she was in this kind of position with her knees up and everything.
"And I saw vomit all over the place. And when Paul rolled her over on to her back, her whole body moved at once, you know. No arm and leg, it all moved.
"And ah - her mouth was all covered in vomit and it was going down her chin and down here, on to her pyjamas.
"And I couldn’t believe what I was seeing.
"That’s when Kim, Kim called up to us and asked us if any of us knew CPR. And I knew it and Paul knew it and so Paul tried to administer CPR on her. She ah - but he had a hard time opening up her mouth and he kept trying and trying. He finally got the mouth open and he asked me to get a warm rag and wiped the vomit off her mouth first.
"And then Paul started administering CPR, mouth to mouth resuscitation. And but he was really pounding on her chest and screaming at her. Val, wake up! Val, wake up! (crying)
"It wasn’t working. So I had to grab Paul. I was standing behind him at the time and I grabbed him around the shoulders and I said, Paul, that’s enough. You can’t do anything. She’s dead."
